Took my car into a Lower Hutt garage for them to find what the noise is coming from the back of the car and a warrant of fitness. They replaced both rear brake disc. Cost $556 in total with two new tyres. Noise is still there coming from the back somewhere but still got a warrant. Text them and tell them that they didn't fix the noise problem, they say it's coming from the front but it's not its defiantly coming from the rear. All that money spent and the problem is still there. Here's the biggest joke of all about this garage, counted in the cost of repairs are waste tyre fee environment charge $6.40 don't mind that so much as they do have to dispose of the old tyres. But wait there is another charge of sundry material / enviro waste $5.00. Queried that and they said it was for cleaning agents and rags, yes rags. But again there is another charge for again more cleaning agents of $7.00. Are garages that desperate that they have to charge for rags seriously. Maybe if they concentrated more on finding the noise and less on the environment I would be happy and keep going there. I won't be taking my car to them again.
franc123,
Jun 3, 11:48am
If your tyres and brake rotors were worn beyond minimum specs or else not warrantable then you would have had to replace them anyway regardless of what your noise issue is. The rest of what you described is pretty standard practice in the industry, tyre disposal, rag supply and brake cleaners aren't free, your usage of your car and the associated component wear created the cost of having to deal with it all in a safe and enviro acceptable way in the first place, the costs aren't created by the service provider. Motoring costs money, simple.
strobo,
Jun 3, 6:31pm
#1 . I charge out rubber gloves too . oh wait there is more ! if it was a lawyers bill for thousands and charges for stationary ,pencils & rubbers,phone calls . I'm guessing you wouldn't complain to the same degree huh. welcome to the real world buddy.
tamarillo,
Jun 3, 7:58pm
Noises can be incredibly hard to find and fix. If nothing is obviously wrong with any parts when it's up on hoist how do they find it? Your wof bill is low. Two discs, tyres, and labour. That's good. They could charge you for endless times driving a around with two people, one crawling all over car trying to find noise. And I'm not saying you are wrong but noises do travel in weird directions and location can be very confusing. Maybe try and be more specific as to what noise is and conditions it does it, and conditions it doesn't. Is it speed related? Engine speed related? In gear and in neutral? Etc etc. if you help them with close observations they may be able to take a stab and explore further. Mechanics on here might be able to suggest things to consider.
bjmh,
Jun 3, 8:17pm
As an operating "garage "i have to buy bags of rags,i get charged to recycle oil filters,i pay to dump the cardboard box that your oil filter came in,i pay for degreaser to clean up any oil that has dripped from your car,i do have a deal with my oil supplier. who collects the waste oil. tyres are a huge problem to recycle.So yes there are a lot of hidden costs which are usually passed on,maybe you need to go and tell them your concerns.
intrade,
Jun 3, 8:32pm
noises can be a problem to find and if they do work not fixing the problem they should tell that and explain why the other work is needed , the costs are often also isufficient listed of what it exactly is . the biggest problem is they did not find the noise and claim now its somwhere else. What do you think if you bring a car in with a electronic drivability malfunction. they probably change every part on the car then to actuarly fix the real problem like corrosion on a hidden wire somwhere. because if they cant even find a simple noise how are they going to find a emense more difficult problem and repair it when you specifically asked for that to be fixed! this is the only fail point they dont listen and then they dont fix what you want done the rest was needed i would hope.
intrade,
Jun 3, 8:42pm
clonking noises just fixed the one on the 270 cdi merc He had bushes for steering rack to be fitted ? . i scratched my head how they would make a clonk noise but hey we fix it removed sump cover on hoist and less then 5 minutes i found the rubber mounts clamping on swaybar had emense play and duplicated the donk noise by moveing the swaybar stabilisator with my hand . its serieosly byond me how they order steering rack mounts when a blind man can see where the problem is even without removal of the sump-cover you would have found that problem. its scary the amount of morons out there who have fancy workshops claiming to be professionals on there shop signs.
ah yea i did not fit the steering rack rubbers they had no play and looked fine.
kazbanz,
Jun 3, 8:45pm
OP-DOES your car have a new WOF? WERE your rear tyres needing replacing? Were your rear disks worn to or beyond the wear limits? if so then $550 for new disks.pads and tyres is pretty good going. AND was all work needed to get a WOF. What suprises me is that as you proclaim yourself as a car "tinkerer" that you didn't sort this stuff out yourself and locate the noise.
mk3crazy,
Jun 3, 10:50pm
Maybe I didn't mention everything. I got new rear pads fitted by the same garage on March 31 and thought because they did that work on the rear of the car they could of fitted something the wrong way around so decided to take the car back to the same garage. The work that I'm not happy about was done on May 22nd. They analysed the noise as coming from the rear disc and replaced them with new items and now they are saying it's coming from the front somewhere. Yes they gave my car a new warrant even though the noise is still there. It needed two new tyres for a new warrant. And yes I am a car tinkerer as you put it kazbanz but two totally different cars one been a English 1972 Mk3 Cortina and the other a Nissan Silvia which the work was done on.
towelynz,
Jun 3, 11:41pm
Reminds me of the ms in the Datsun. She looks at me and asks what "that" noise is? I explain to her that the car is almost 40 years old and I can hear about 10 different noises and she 'll have to be more specific.
She just kept saying "that noise". Sigh.
noswalg,
Jun 4, 12:41am
I think the OP has a valid point $12 for rags & cleaning agents to change 2 brake rotors in my opinion is steep. How are these sundry costs calculated? A flat fee or what?
intrade,
Jun 4, 12:48am
i still dont know what car make and model and year is the one with this problem?
elect70,
Jun 4, 1:09am
strobo wrote: #1 . I charge out rubber gloves too . oh wait there is more ! if it was a lawyers bill for thousands and charges for stationary ,pencils & rubbers,phone calls . I'm guessing you wouldn't complain to the same degree huh. welcome to the real world buddy.[/quote Ever seen a vet hospitals bill , charge for every bit of stitching bandage , pins, gloves masks .Even a gash results in a page of " consumables " . But back to problem , take it back -not fixed as per invoice & get the old discs back if they havent already disposed of the evidence.
elect70,
Jun 4, 1:19am
Not wrong there intrade , my old vl commy got towed to a"AA approved ' workshop in Hastings after i hit a rainstorm . They had it a week & eventually rang & said ECU was crook & would have to send it away for repair . So I got it towed down to local little garage & he found water stain on the cam angle sensor in the dissy in about 5 minutes . Cleaned it up & away we went .
mk3crazy,
Jun 4, 1:33am
Ok you are saying the car is old and it's going to have all sorts of noises coming from it but it's been regularly serviced and kept up to date with a WOF. It's my Nissan Silvia 1995. The garage diagnosed the noise as being the rear brake discs and they got it wrong so am I suppose to keep taking the car to them until they get it right and pay them until they get it right?
321mat,
Jun 4, 2:06am
Hi. Initially I wondered if it was a stone in the brake disc rattle plate, but your description of what happens eliminates that theory. So, it could be a wheel bearing starting to fail, or, as it's a Silvia, it could be that your rear diff is low on lube. If not, it could be worn bushes places stress on the rear axle, causing it to squeal.
Hope this helps.
intrade,
Jun 4, 2:18am
re 15 no what you should do is find somone more competent.
321mat,
Jun 4, 2:23am
I agree, because even my suggestions are areas your mechanic should have investigated, particularly the low diff oil, as Silvias can run low in that area.
supernova2,
Jun 4, 9:57am
Hang on they fitted new pads in March but didn't replace the disks so I can only assume that the disks had no problem. Now 2 months latter the disks are causing a noise so they fit new ones. But didn't change the pads again so how can the disks be making a noise but have not damaged the "new" pads.
Without seeing the parts I'm thinking they just changed something for the hell of it and hope the problem went away.
My question is why were the disks not changed in March and what happened to them in the two months since that damaged the disks but didn't damage the pads?
zephyrheaven,
Jun 4, 10:03am
is the noise apparent in the morning when reversing by chance?
mk3crazy,
Jun 4, 11:53am
Pretty much what your saying is correct and I didn't see the old parts that came of my car either and your right they changed the discs for the hell of it. As for your last question even I don't know. I should of asked for the old parts back.
mk3crazy,
Jun 4, 12:00pm
No the noise is not apparent in the morning when reversing and it's not always there but sometimes when I apply the brakes it starts and sometimes it just starts randomly.
whqqsh,
Jun 4, 5:54pm
not a mechanics but I checked our boiler service guys invoice & contract recently & his charge-out rate is supposed to include consumables but obviously not oil, nuts & bolts etc (that as an engineer I call consumables in my w/shop). Latest bill came in & there was a charge for the things mentioned by the o/p so I queried them & they came up with the same excuses as many on here so I asked what ARE the consumables built into your rate that aren't charged separately? As they stumbled & stuttered I realised they had a charge-out rate they had either gotten used to or hadn't updated then added more charges on top. Sometimes hidden surprises don't make for the best P.R, especially when you get caught out
kazbanz,
Jun 4, 9:25pm
Having recently been in a similar situation I would LOVE to hear the other side of this story. right up until this post you haven't mentioned that the sound is intermittent.
mainlander05,
Jun 5, 5:08am
I wish in trade would learn how to spell.their,their its spelt their.always makes me shudder as to how intelligent some people are in spouting out there valuable knowledge.did you pick up the spelling mistake their?
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